A couple of days ago we bumped into Skål, the result of a research project on RFID carried out at AHO (Oslo School of Architecture and Design). Basically, Skål is an interface that lets you interact with (online) digital media using physical objects. The idea is that you place RFID tagged objects in a wooden bowl (a Skål) in order to play back certain media on a digital screen.
Technically, the bowl consists of a wireless sensor that detects an RFID tagged object once you place it within the bowl. In this way you can easily place an RFID tag on whatever object you want, such as toys, dolls and action figures. Furthermore, you can let the RFID tag trigger any kind of programmed action, such as initializing movie clips, Youtube channels, Flickr photo streams, online radio etc.

I can imagine this kind of Meta Product especially appeals to young children, giving them control over what they see on the screen in a playful way. It strongly reminds me of Violet’s Mir:ror, which basically does the same. And I’m sure there are many other examples out there that work this way. The idea of controlling (online) digital media with physical objects is not new, but technologies such as RFID enable totally different ways of interaction.

Tags: RFID, Technologies, Ubimedia

posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 10:00 and filed under Ubimedia
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